Development and Validation of the Ambulance Nurse Competence Scale.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION\nIn recent decades, major competency shifts have taken place in prehospital care in Sweden because staffing ambulances with registered/specialized nurses has become a priority. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a new instrument to measure the self-reported professional competency of specialist ambulance nursing students and registered/specialist nurses working in prehospital care.\n\n\nMETHODS\nThis study used a quantitative cross-sectional design to evaluate psychometric properties of a new instrument. The sample included 179 registered/specialist ambulance nurses and 34 specialist ambulance nursing students.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe analyses resulted in the Ambulance Nurse Competence (ANC) scale, consisting of 43 items and covering 8 factors: Nursing Care (n\xa0= 8), Value-based Nursing Care (n\xa0=\xa05), Medical Technical Care (n\xa0= 5), Care Environment s Community (n\xa0= 4), Care Environment s Serious Events (n\xa0= 8), Leadership Management (n\xa0= 3), Supervision and Professional Conduct (n\xa0= 4), and Research and Development (n\xa0= 6). All factors except Leadership Management achieved a Cronbach s alpha value greater than 0.71, explaining 59.62% of the total variance.\n\n\nDISCUSSION\nThe ANC scale was systematically tested and showed satisfactory psychometrical properties. The ANC scale can be used in the education programs of future registered/specialist ambulance nurses as a tool for self-reflected learning and could also be of potential use in identifying competence gaps in registered/specialist ambulance nurses, which could direct the design of introductory programs. The scale could also be used as an outcome measure together with other instruments.